Sandra Ross's Blog, page 2

Shoe-Shopping in Tokyo

Every woman has a set of weaknesses. Despite variety in personality, one listed item is recurrent – shoes! 

What woman does not like shoes? They are our obsession, our secret love, our addiction. We simply need to have one for every occasion.

Men will never understand the continuous search for additions to our shoe collection. There’s a certain style to complete an ensemble. There’s a certain color to complement a bag or other accessory. There’s a certain height of sole to stand out at a themed party. And this life is full of surprises. You’ll never know what you’ll need when – better ready than sorry.

While here in downtown Tokyo, Japan, I had to stop and spend an hour…or two…in this delightful store! It would be an insult to not stop and stare, a torture to not try a pair, and a crime to leave with hands bare. I know you work tirelessly. What better way to unwind than a shoe-shopping spree?

Grab a pair – or more. You deserve it.

 

Hello fabulous feet,

Sandra Ross

Breakfast – Time to have a Feast!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Contrary to this suggestion, many people ignore breakfast on a daily basis. This is why I’m cooking a feast for my family – to make up for the mornings I just gulp a cup of coffee, while the kids have cold cereal. I’m really inclined to Asian cuisine – Thai or Chinese or Indian is my favorite. Just the other day, while browsing through some book trailers, I chanced upon a neat recipe book called The Fortnightly Breakfast .

This is a South Indian recipe book for breakfast and some side dishes. The side dishes alone go great with the main dishes – and there are four to a meal. This is not normal breakfast for a Western table, and all are spicy – guaranteed to wake you up better than a cup of coffee. In Asian and Indian homes, rice and grams (lentils) are the predominant items in everyday recipes. With those ingredients, and a few additions, there is a lot of variety of dishes that can be made.

Some combinations have lots of fiber, proteins, and are very rich in vitamins and iron. The spices sprinkled on dishes are harmless and the ingredients are suitable for all ages. If you notice, people from the South Indian culture are very thin and healthy. Their delicious meals do not have items such as gluten that most people have a hard time processing in their digestive systems and may even become sick from. They don’t have processed items in their recipes either.

You need to maintain an ideal weight to be healthy. To do this, you need to incorporate some fantastic Indian food into your diet plan. If you keep things interesting, you won’t get too bored on your diet, and you may end up losing more weight than your other friends who are also on diets. South Indian food is touted to be the healthiest food on the planet. It also has vitamins, minerals, and many spices that we use here in America for sources of natural healing. Spices like turmeric are put into capsules to help cleanse the body of toxins.

Curry is also used to help heal the common cold, and maybe even cancer. More research is being done, but it is nonetheless true. Many of the varieties mentioned are ideal for travel and can be served cold. So, what are you waiting for? Try some of these fabulous recipes, and your breakfast will never be the same. All of these recipes are to be prepared the night before in order to be able to wake up and cook.

Have you seen any of those Bollywood movies? Those Indian males are good enough for breakfast – only they’ve got too much spice in them. So, yes, Indian recipes for now, just because I needed something to trim down my waistline. Oh well, credit it to marzipan* with crunchy bits of slivered almonds. My kids are already making a racket outside where Jonathan has set up the pingpong table. Well, it’s a Sunday- enjoy!

(* Recipe available here.)

 

Your Indian chef today,

Sandra Ross

Chicken Mountain

This is one of those days when my photography meets my crazy creativity! It is a little silly – but I enjoy it immensely. I hope this picture takes your stress away, or at least gives you a good reason to let out a hearty and healthy laugh.

P.S. That is me, by the way. (Not the chicken!)

 

Smile big,

Sandra Ross

Instant Gourmet Coffee

When you travel, you can’t always have a coffee maker handy. And there isn’t always a foreign counterpart of your favorite barista to make your special order cup. Fortunately, I found gourmet coffee served instantly.

Meet my beautiful discovery in Japan – coffee in a can!

We needed our shot of caffeine in Tokyo. The convenience stores there serve it up hot in cans. Here’s a delicious “can” of coffee, with a Japanese twist. And, it is quite good!

 

Raise your can,

Sandra Ross

Exotic Frog Legs

I’m told that frog legs “taste like chicken”. So I had to see. Here is my dish of golden brown, deep fried, honey glazed frog legs. They look almost pornographic in this picture…

Frog is one exotic food – along with snakes, turtles, and others I may or may not have heard of. Exotic – this adjective made me urged me to try this dish along with my innate curiosity. It sounds like erotic. And we all know that’s my top favorite word in the modern dictionary.

Exotic and erotic have one thing in common – they keep you wanting and coming back for more. These frog legs are too good to be a one-time experience, so…

 

Sign up for the next frog fest,

Sandra Ross

Aftermath of a Sea Tragedy

What was supposed to be a four-day jaunt to the Caribbean became an eight-day nightmare when an engine fire left the ship floating in the Gulf of Mexico without power, air-conditioning, or a working septic system. The Carnival Triumph, an immobile cruise ship that has stranded its 4,000 occupants at sea since Sunday, will not arrive ashore until much later than originally thought because of a broken towline, according to the Mobile Press-Register.

A fire on the 900-foot, 14-story boat that knocked out the ship’s propulsion system Sunday has turned what was supposed to be four-day dream cruise to the Caribbean into an eight-day health and public relations nightmare. The fire not only knocked out the ship’s propulsion, but its power, air conditioning, and septic systems as well.

The extra time at sea has also left the boat short on food and passengers without critical medicine. The ship left Galveston, Texas, Thursday carrying 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members who planned to return to home port Monday night. The engine fire stalled those plans, leaving the ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. How many are the casualties? No one would say at this point.

100 years after the sinking of luxury cruise ship Titanic on April 14, several memorials all over the world were unveiled and various tributes held to commemorate one of the most tragic maritime disasters in history. Titanic, though, is not the “worst” peacetime sea tragedy, but the sinking of the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz in the Philippines 25 years ago. While big-budget Hollywood movies have been made about the ill-fated maiden voyage of RMS Titanic, only small-production documentaries on the more than 4,000 Filipinos rushing to get home to their loved ones just in time for Christmas in 1987 have been produced.

I have a friend who lost a brother in that needless tragedy. The saddest thing was that her brother’s body was not yet recovered when she sent a message to me. With her email was his picture, smiling as he playfully mussed her hair for the camera, an icy hand clutched my heart. How could I tell her that I dreamt of the same man, in an island, he was wearing khaki cut-off pants and V-neck white shirt? He was very wet and looking worried. I wanted to approach him but couldn’t.

With the Boston Marathon bombing, the morning paper got me thinking of death. End-of-life reports ignite my curiosity and make me want to get in touch again with paranormal ideas. In the case of my friend’s brother, I know that I have a score to settle for not speaking out at that moment of need. What if I did? Would it make any difference? Could they have found his body sooner? I was very young then, unsure of my “clairvoyant gifts”.  This time, I will be more than able to relay communication from the other world to their loved ones in this world. I just know I will be.

 

Pray for Boston,

Sandra Ross

Croatian Freedom

Dubrovnik, Croatia was a wonderful place to be. A view from the top overlooks the whole city. It’s breathtaking. But it was not the picturesque landscapes and roof tiles that made this city quite a memory. It was the mantra its people lived by – Libertas (liberty).

They valued freedom highly. And if you didn’t, you would leave the place converted. The city’s motto is explicit, for people to never forget. Freedom is literally painted on the sides of buses and on famous landmarks. But the best part is that, freedom is not only something they speak and write about for you to read. It’s something they live by and for you to experience.

A warm September night gently covers the old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The yacht I am sailing on is there in the distance, lit up and waiting for my return. It has to wait longer, though. And it did. Freedom, I said. No pressure, no stress – exactly what a vacation should be.

If you’re tied up right now, by whatever full time obligation, break loose and hop on in my little cruise.

 

Happy Independence Day,

Sandra Ross

Thank You Note

This post is to THANK all my followers and fans. I am happy to know that, at thirty-two, I am inspiring more and more people and that is what makes me want to master my craft even more.

I’m surrounded with my loved ones tonight after a not-so-little get-together birthday bash. The cat snuggles against my feet for warmth in the balmy spring air. Life cannot be more pleasant than this. We are so grateful for everything that happened that fateful morning when we almost unravelled at the sight of a stranger in our living room. He was there sitting nonchalantly as if there is no better place he would choose to be.

He wrote to me once and said he was my pop. There was a mistake in my paternity or he doubted my mom’s fidelity, and he went on to trace a series of mishaps which separated us. But the stories ended there and I am here, flesh and blood, with all of my loved ones. All the past rushing up on me, like a bad nightmare that keeps on repeating when you sleep. So, I am a foundling child left on the doorstep of a church by my stepdad? Now, who’s my mom? As if I could care now, after all those years…

I went to him as in a trance, and there he was, looking exactly like me – the eyes, the hair, the lift of the nose and the full lips. What would you do if you see a person looking like you were staring at a mirror? So, he got up and extended his hand in a cordial handshake. Thank God, he did not try to embrace me like in those movies where father meets daughter for the first time. Who would have guessed, too, that he was a writer like me?

Marco – my dad – had a lopsided grin like I did. He is from the Zeffirelli clan. Or is it another Zeffirelli? I think I have seen his credits somewhere. So, I am a love child of an Italian and my mom is French. Ah, who would have guessed that I have an overdose of tragedy in me? The meeting was pleasant and surreal. It was also the first intelligent conversation I had with a man after so many years. So now, on my birthday, I am blissfully thankful that my creator has been looking inside my weary heart.

P.S. My dad could not pick a better date to show up. Years or lifetimes apart, family is family. I’m grateful for them every day.

 

Happy birthday to me,

Sandra Ross

Smile Sushi, Smile

Have you met someone with an infectious smile? I’ve met some…thing. This plate could turn even the longest frown upside down. Before even taking a bite, you already have a good glimpse of the happiness your tummy is about to experience.

This is food shot personified. I love sushi with a sense of humor!

 

Smile and bite,

Sandra Ross

Movie Date with the Kids

Friday night Jonathan came and we went out to watch Oz (The Great and Powerful) with the kids. The kids loved it! Praise the fantasy involved in the movie and how it reminds me of why I write fantasy themed novels. A small-time magician is swept away to an enchanted land and is forced into a power struggle between three witches.

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune is his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting.

Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

Written by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the movie is delightful and I am drawn once more to that land where one can be anything one wished to be. This world could sure make us of an interplanar world where one can rest from the hustle and bustle of real life. Not that I detest this life where I can be also the character in my latest book. Sometimes, there are so many things going on, that I can’t make head or tail of where I want to end up – in fantasy land or where I have three children looking up to me for moral guidance.

One can be so desperately needy that she would trade anything to have the leisure of just not being anything. A career is what everyone covets; but a career is the least I want out of life. Do you know what I want? It’s being alive and carefree. All the characters in my books were not in quest of anything when they encountered their best moments. In fact, they were escaping from such an imposed quest when they chanced upon adventure.

Thus, the movie date with the kids for Oz – the Great and Powerful – became a journey into the self. Life has fewer pleasures when you are under pressure – this is what all young adults will tell you. In fact, my daughter protested upon being asked to choose a course on her senior year in high school. I have to hand it to her – so was I that adamant to make the same choice.

 

Thank you Disney,

Sandra Ross